When everything returned to normal, Adam realized they were in a place that was far from normal. It was Spooksville and it was not. As they looked around in wonder, they realized they were in a heavenly version of their home. A sweet scent filled the air. The surrounding trees were a lush green. Everything seemed to be glowing with a faint golden light, radiating love and joy.
“This isn’t so bad,” Sally remarked.
“It looks like paradise,” Watch said, removing his glasses to clean them. “It’s amazing we ended up in such a wonderful place, considering how scared we were.”
“I wasn’t scared,” Sally said quickly, letting go of their hands. “I think it was me who lifted our overall vibes.”
“I liked the way your arms shook so much when you weren’t scared,” Adam said.
“They only shook because I was holding on to your arms,” Sally said, stepping away from the tombstone. She sucked in a deep breath of the sweet air. “I love this place! Look at the sky. It looks like one huge rainbow. I don’t know if I want to go home.”
Watch was concerned. “We tried the Secret Path to find Bryce. But if he’s off fighting evil, I doubt that he’s here.”
“That’s true,” Adam agreed. Then he stopped and stared down at some initials carved into the base of the tombstone—BP. He pointed them out to the others. “Bryce Poole. He must have been here.”
Sally bent over the initials. “It’s only a couple of letters, but he could have carved them.” She raised her head and stared out of the cemetery, which actually looked more like a park. “I wonder where he could have gone?”
“Let’s walk into town and ask for him,” Watch said, replacing his glasses. “I think I see people in the distance.”
“Wait a second,” Adam said. “We should figure out where we are before we talk to anyone.”
“That’s easy,” Sally said. “We’re in heaven.”
“You mean we’re in a heaven,” Adam said. “This place is beautiful but it’s still Spooksville. See, the castle’s over there, and the ocean is down that way.”
“What I mean is we don’t have to worry about getting killed here,” Sally said. “I think if Bryce is around, people will be happy to lead us to him.”
“Then why did he carve his initials on the base of the tombstone?” Adam said. “He could have just set out a sign announcing that he was here.”
“He might have been afraid of something,” Watch agreed.
Sally laughed. “Nonsense! This is one place where I’m not afraid. Let’s go explore. I think that Bryce is here, and when we find him he’ll probably be having the time of his life.”
“I hope you’re right,” Adam said.
They walked along the road that wound down toward the ocean and the center of town. Along the way they passed the castle. To their immense surprise they saw Ms. Ann Templeton—or this dimension’s version of her—supervising a picnic for a bunch of dwarfs and elves. She waved, and they didn’t know what else to do so they waved back. They were having a barbecue of chicken and fish. Each of the dwarfs had a can of Coke, but the elves were all drinking orange soda out of clear glass bottles.
“See,” Sally said. “Here she doesn’t have nasty goblins working for her.”
“I kind of liked Belfart,” Watch mused. “I hope the marines accepted him.”
“Maybe we should stop and talk to Ann Templeton,” Adam said, thinking out loud. “Get the scoop on this place.”
“No,” Sally said. “I want to get into town. Bryce is probably there.” She added, “I wouldn’t mind going to my house to see what the Sally on this side is like.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Adam said, although the same thought had occurred to him. “It might complicate things if we met ourselves.”
“It might give us a mild case of schizophrenia,” Watch agreed.
“You guys are no fun today,” Sally said. “I’m dying to meet the heavenly version of myself—no pun intended. I bet I’m simply extraordinary.”
“Well, there is a lot of room for improvement,” Adam muttered.
Sally snorted. “I heard that. Come on, let’s at least get something to eat. I bet the food here is delicious.”
They ended up stopping at a fast food joint on the edge of town. In their normal Spooksville the place was called FRED’S FAT FOOD. But here it was called FRIEND’S FANTASTIC FOOD. Plus the guy at the counter didn’t look anything like Fred, who had tattoos, dirty fingernails, and an apron stained with human blood. The handsome young man who took their orders had long golden curls and eyes as clear blue as the sky. In fact, he didn’t even want to be paid. He pushed their money back when they set it on the counter. The food was on the house.
“I could get into living here,” Sally said.
“Maybe that’s why Bryce didn’t return,” Watch said. “He liked it so much he just decided to stay.”
“Whatever he decided doesn’t matter; we have to go back,” Adam said. “Cindy’s waiting for us. She’ll be worried.”
“If she hadn’t been such a coward she could be with us here now,” Sally said.
“You thought she should stay,” Adam protested.
“And I’m glad she did,” Sally said. “She was so scared—we probably all would have ended up in some dark corner of the universe.”
Their food arrived and it was wonderful. Really, it tasted better than any meal they’d ever had in their lives, and it was just hot dogs and french fries. Sally was so pleased by the food that she ordered a vanilla milkshake, which she refused to share with Adam.
“You can still get fat in heaven,” she said. “I wouldn’t want that for you if we’re going to live forever now.”
When they were about to leave the place, Adam struck up a conversation with the young man who served them. He listened patiently while Adam explained how they were searching for a friend named Bryce Poole. Adam asked Sally to describe Bryce. When they were through, the man spoke in a sympathetic tone.
“You three aren’t from around here, are you?”
“Not exactly,” Adam replied. “We’re sort of from a neighboring city.”
The man nodded. “I understand. We get people like you now and then.”
“You do?” Sally asked, amazed.
“Yes,” the young man said. “And the best thing you can do is go find your counterpart in the city. Once you find him or her, everything will be all right.”
“That was exactly what I wanted to do,” Sally said, looking rather pleased with herself.
Watch was confused. “So you know we’re not from this dimension?”
The young man with the golden hair smiled. “That’s obvious to all of us.”
“You mean everyone in the city knows we’re strangers here?” Adam asked.
The man ignored the question. “Find your counterpart and everything will become clear.” He paused and stared off in the distance. As he did a strange light shone in his eyes. “I think they’re waiting for you at Adam’s house.”
“Waiting for us?” Watch asked. “How do they know we’re here?”
The man just smiled again. “You better hurry. You don’t want to keep them waiting.”
Feeling confused, Adam left the restaurant with his friends. Sally insisted that they head straight for Adam’s house. But both Watch and Adam were having doubts.
“He didn’t really answer our questions,” Watch complained.
“He said our other selves would help us,” Sally replied. “He was a nice man—we can trust him.”
“He seemed like a nice man,” Adam said. “But I agree with Watch. His answers were too vague.”
“I don’t care what you guys say,” Sally replied. “I’m going to see my better half. I can hardly wait to have a deep and meaningful conversation with her.”
“This will be one argument she’s finally going to lose,” Watch said.
Since they didn’t know why they were reluctant to go, Adam and Watch agreed to accompany Sally to visit their other selves. Finding Adam’s house wasn’t difficult because it was exactly where it was in the other Spooksville.
Their three counterparts were sitting outside Adam’s house.
They smiled when they saw Adam and Cindy and Watch.
All six of them smiled.
Then the counterparts stood up and slowly walked toward them.
As they did so, their faces began to change.
They began to melt. Into hideous demon forms.